Anyone know about permitted developmemts? Should this be allowed and can I object?

[Happymam6710]

I went to work this morning with a private yard. I have come home to neighbours new dormer completely overlooking my house and straight into my yard. I asked the builder and he said we cannot object as they don't need planning permission for this and it is covered under permitted development. I have emailed the council but just wondering if anyone knows whether overlooking and our right to privacy would be enough for this to be taken down.

Also if they applied for permitted developmemts and received certificate of lawfulness would we have been made aware or not?

We received planning permission application but it only spoke of internal loft work and upgrading the dormer at the front of the house. Nothing about the rear facing dormer.

We are in terraced houses and have a tiny back yard but it is private and we get the sun so its my happy place. Im absolutely gutted about this, just wondering if council will be able to do anything?

Ignore this advice.
The council will know more this than anyone on MN.
Most of the time you will submit a form via a portal and they will triage your enquiry.
You're asking for advice not complaining.

An enquiry about a structure where someone is disputing it is PD and is complaining about it reducing their privacy js logged as an enforcement complaint. It may well be triaged and closed but it is still taking away resource from actual breaches of planning control as there are only so many officers to deal with this kind of thing.

And this ‘someone on MN’ happens to run a planning department.

YABU, you have no right to not be overlooked in your backyard or back garden. And quite frankly I’ve no idea why you would think you would. Almost any “private” (as in only accessible by you) outside space in a city is overlooked by other properties. I mean if they set up a CCTV trained on your back garden then that’s different, but this is rear dormer of which there must be hundreds of thousands in the country.

Basically, if you want privacy go live in the countryside.

As others note you do have a right to light, which is why most neighbourly disputes are over the height of trees, fences, extensions changing the aspect of the house, etc.

Tbh I doubt they're interested in your yard, they just want more space in there house

I work in planning enforcement.

Yes, on the balance of probability, this dormer is almost certainly permitted development (doesn’t require planning permission).

That being said, nobody on Mumsnet can confirm this 100%, a lot of the planning advice on threads like this, whilst well meaning, is simplistic at best. Whilst relatively unusual, there are scenarios where rear dormers are not permitted development (our department have a number of open enforcement cases for rear dormers that have not, in fact, been PD).

Fill in the planning enforcement report form with the facts that you have, send in your photos, and they can confirm.

Brilliant advice 👏

You have my sympathy. Next-door but one built very similar under permitted development.
From the upstairs windows you can see some of most gardens but from that height you can see the whole garden. I know because their kids waved to me from the new window when I was in a previously private bit.

It's a big trend because for a traditional 3 bed semi-detached (ie, 2 and a box room) it makes enough space for a family with 2 older children who would otherwise have moved somewhere bigger, st lower cost.

Trouble is that people are extending rather than moving ip and freeing up a house further down the ladder. I think it's adding to the issues with housing supply

You asked if you'd be notified if they made an application for a certificate of awfulness. We don't notify neighbours at my authority. It's a legal determination as to whether it's permitted development, objections wouldn't make any difference.

My neighbour could easily get a certificate of awfulness 😂

Lol, old eyes, small text and no proof reading!

OP in the gentlest way, I think you’re overreacting. Rear dormers are very common - this just happens to be the first one near you. Where I live, virtually every house has one. It’s almost always Permitted Development.

It’s permitted unfortunately. My neighbours who I am semi detached with built one which looks down into our kitchen extension roof windows. It’s created a lack of privacy which was one of the selling points of our home (we’d only just bought our house when they built it).
We complained to everyone going but they signed it off even though they didn’t ask us to sign a party wall agreement and it’s never been signed off by building regulations.
You have my sympathy. Dormers are ugly things and they do change people’s privacy and probably devalued our home.

Thank you very much for this.

I've contacted the council and they are sending someone out to check it. Im guessing there will be probably very little we can do. It's just such a shame as it's huge not very pretty looking and we do feel overlooked from the whole back of our house not just the garden.

There is one a few houses down so just hoping the whole street don't put them up now as that would block our light completely and we would probably end up having to move.

If there’s another on the street, it’s very likely that a planning application would have been approved anyway, if it had been needed - so the council would literally just be making some money by making them pay to apply. But it will be permitted development anyway.

I’m sorry it’s had such an effect on your home, and I hope a trellis or something does help a bit.

Do they have a window in the back ( assume bedroom ? ) as if so they have always been able to look down at you .

I would get planting, OP. A vigorous climber up a trellis, and or quick-growing trees or tall shrubs in big pots.

@Happymam6710 try not to be catastrophic on this, even if the whole street had them it wouldn’t block all your light. They are not allowed to be higher than the original roofline. There are some polcies about right to light by the way but honestly this situation is nowhere near it.

You’re catastrophising. The other house might put up similar dormers. They may not though.

If they do, it will not “block out all your light”.

You live in a street with high volume housing. They can already see into your yard from the first floor but probably don’t as they are busy doing their own thing. It’s very rare to have privacy in a garden and involves either living in the middle of a field or owning a very large garden.

Moving to a larger house would give you more privacy and it’s always a good investment if you can afford it. But you can’t control the environment around you so there’s always compromise.

Even if you manage to get it blocked they can appeal and will invariably eventually get permission.

It wouldn’t block your light, the top of the window is below the top of the roof.

Just how does it block your light? It is within existing roofline and shadow will fall below in their garden. Even pd needs buildings regulations consent, which may be your best line for mitigation.